tagged 
Sex, Top Posts, celebrity, discipleship
Sex, Top Posts, celebrity, discipleship Most Popular Posts vs My Favorites (I Lose)
Thursday, December 30, 2010 at 12:28AM 
Apparently, gentle readers, we don’t always see things eye to eye, you and I. On Monday I listed my twelve favorites posts of 2010. Today, as I list the five most-visited posts, only one of them was among my favorites.
Students of Jesus welcomed readers from 105 countries on all five inhabited continents. Next year I'm hoping the penguins in Antarctica get wi-fi. And Students of Jesus reached all 50 of these United States. I'm particularly grateful to that one guy in Cheyenne for putting Wyoming on the map (I hope he comes back next year as well).
The final week of the year is the traditional time for retrospectives, and I’m nothing if not traditional. So, in the continued spirit of all-about-me narcissism, here are Students of Jesus' most-visited posts of 2010.
When Famous Christians are Gay When Christian singer Jennifer Knapp came out as a lesbian (with simultaneous interviews in The Advocate and Christianity Today) I ventured away from the center of Students of Jesus and gave my opinions on the church, on sin, and on the abuse of scripture. Not surprisingly, my views satisfied no one--not even myself. This post generated 25 times the normal traffic to my blog, but it wandered away from the premise of Students of Jesus by commenting on current events and the church at large. I’ve learned that such posts generate a lot of heat and almost no light.
Monday’s Meditation: Sex, Celebrity and Discipleship Just four days later, shocked at the traffic that flooded my little dog and pony show, I tried to get back to the core of my concerns (I'm actually quite proud of this post). I commented on why issues of sex and celebrity draw an audience 25 times larger than the issue of discipleship. Really? Sex and celebrity garners more attention than following Jesus? Who knew? A crazy side effect of this post is that because the title contains the words sex and celebrity it draws traffic every week from search engines around the world. I feel sorry for the people who eagerly click on the link. The average length of a visit to this post? Less than two seconds.
The Great Fall of Wisdom This is the only overlap between my top twelve and the most-visited posts. I suggested that an omniscient God isn’t impressed with how smart we are. I also suspect that the reason it was visited so often is that 22.6% of Reformed-theology seminary students came to laugh at my reasoning (I made that last statistic up, but I stand by it nonetheless). I still like this post, and I would appreciated if all four of my regular readers would email it to Zondervan, Lifeway, and Thomas Nelson.
Monday’s Meditation: Three Important Questions I’m not going to tell you what the three questions are, but believe me, they’re important. This post also generated the most comments of any post all year, but only because I shamelessly ended the article with these pathetic words: “I’m begging: tell me what you think.”
Monday’s Meditation: Indigenous Worship (dot com) I thrilled this post was well received because my dearest friends launched a website dedicated to songwriting and creativity in the local church. It’s an awesome site, and you should definitely check it out, but you should always do so by going to Students of Jesus first and then following the link to their site. Then they might buy me lunch.
One glimmer of hope for people who search the InterWeb is that the sixth-place post was actually written in February of 2009. Somehow, among the millions of people using Google-dot-antichrist, several hundred found their way to Students of Jesus by searching “How Can We Humble Ourselves.” That just provides just enough hope for me to keep writing another year.
That’s it, friends. 2010 is in the books, and my prayer for all four of you is that you will experience God’s richest blessings in the year to come. And hey, what would you like to read about in the coming year, I’m begging: tell me what you think!
Reader Comments (6)
I enjoy reading your thoughts and pondering your meditations! I've been thinking about prayer lately. Looking back through your archives on prayer, I found a post on June 15, 2009, about the simple question: "Can I pray for you right now?" Incidentally, I grew up in that Champaign Vineyard, and my parents were part of the early group with Happy and Di that became the church there. I've since moved across the country, but one of my remaining struggles with prayer ministry has to do with another question: "What about when God doesn't perform the miraculous answer to prayer?" I realize this question is one of the mysteries of our faith, and perhaps unanswerable, but I'd like to hear your meditation on the topic. Thanks for sharing such honest, heartfelt, and faithful words through this blog!
Hi Sarah: I'm so pleased one of my four readers chimed in with a suggestion--and thanks, too, for your kind words.
As I reviewed my posts for 2010 I recognized how little I wrote on prayer, which reflects how little I know about prayer! Just Tuesday I came across a thought from Dallas Willard that relates directly to your question. Here's an exercise he recommended after commenting on Romans 8:37, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Willard then suggested, "Review with God those requests you have prayed for many years, which have not turned out as you wished (or as you believe God wishes). Consider that others may not have cooperated. Ask God to show you ways in which you are "more than a conqueror" in spite of this disappointment."
Thanks for your suggestion, Sarah. I'll take a stab at your question in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please pray for me :-)
Great posts, Ray. I know what you mean (all too well) about which ones generate a lot of comments. I remember writing a couple on the emerging church and one on The Nines that exploded and I was all..."What?" I kind of hate those posts now. Anyway, you are always a voice of encouragement and truth here. Many blessings on you and Kim in 2011 - look forward to journeying another year with you guys in this space.
Thanks for the kind words, Sarah. Bessey blessings abundant (for all five) in the coming year.
I enjoy reading your thoughts and pondering your meditations! I've been thinking about prayer lately. Looking back through your archives on prayer, I found a post on June 15, 2009, about the simple question: "Can I pray for you right now?" Incidentally, I grew up in that Champaign Vineyard, and my parents were part of the early group with Happy and Di that became the church there. I've since moved across the country, but one of my remaining struggles with prayer ministry has to do with another question: "What about when God doesn't perform the miraculous answer to prayer?" I realize this question is one of the mysteries of our faith, and perhaps unanswerable, but I'd like to hear your meditation on the topic. Thanks for sharing such honest, heartfelt, and faithful words through this blog!
Great posts, Ray. I know what you mean (all too well) about which ones generate a lot of comments. I remember writing a couple on the emerging church and one on The Nines that exploded and I was all..."What?" I kind of hate those posts now. Anyway, you are always a voice of encouragement and truth here. Many blessings on you and Kim in 2011 - look forward to journeying another year with you guys in this space.